Sevikas: Nanda and Jacqueline
Prayers:
• OM Saha Naavaatu (click here for text)
• Vakratunda Mahakaya (click here for text)
• Sarasvati Namastubhyam (click here for text)
Quiet Time: Man, oh man — these kids did great! They sat absolutely still for one minute — and nearly everyone got the correct number of shells dropped into the bowl during our focus game. Looks like these children will soon be ready to try for one minute and 15 seconds.
Geeta Chanting: Chapter 10, Shlokas 1 and 2 (click here for audio and text)
Story: How the squirrels helped Lord Ram build the bridge to Lanka, and how they came to have three stripes on their back.
Activity/Games: Made a spinning top (click here to view)
Likhita Japa: Practiced writing राम with our tracing cards. (click here to view)
Sanskrit Learning: Click here to view words of the week
End of Class Prayers: Aarti and pledge were done in the auditorium.
Homework: None
Comments: We have decided to banish the "big people's" tables and chairs for our class — and sit in a circle on the floor instead. And boy, did it feel right! We all seemed to be a bit more comfortable and together as a group. We will be conducting our class in this fashion from now on — so please have your child remove their shoes and line them up at the door when they first arrive. We will have a table at the front of the room where your child can keep their coat and backpack.
After what seemed like such a long break, it sure was nice seeing everyone again! We reviewed our Alphabet Safari letters: "A is for Aspiration," "B is for Brotherhood," "C is for Cleanliness," and "D is for Dad." Today we learned that "E is for Enthusiasm." We discussed what enthusiasm felt like, and why it was important that we do everything with this certain type of feeling. To further illustrate this "Word of the Week," we had the children make spinning tops (click here to see example) and see how long they could keep them going. Guess you can imagine how much fun we all had.
Today we tried something new during our activity segment. We introduced a few Sanskrit words and had the kids repeat them. We were very encouraged with how well they picked these words up ... so, at the end of our class (and only if we have time) we will try and have a Sanskrit Learning segment. We will play games and read interactive books to help us learn colors, numbers, clothing articles, verbs, etc. Next class we will plan to play "KrishnaH vadati"(click here to view text.)
We hope that your child had as much fun as the aunties did today! We will be missing Nanda aunty for the next few weeks while she travels to India. Though we are sad to not have her in class for the next month, we are really lucky that Ruchi Aunty will be joining us.
Please continue to practice Geeta Chanting with your child at home. We will work with Shlokas 1 and 2 next week, and plan to begin Shloka 3 in December.
Look forward to seeing everyone next week. In the meantime, enjoy the fabulous weather!!! This aunty is going for a verrrry long bike ride after this entry gets posted.
Kids: be sure and check out the videos in the announcement section above. You'll find these to be fun reviews for "E is for Enthusiasm" and भ्रमति (bhramati, spins). Oh yeah, and if any of you are LEGO enthusiasts, make sure your have your bucket of LEGOS handy while watching the last two videos :-)
Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda
